


The Wanderers: a BatIM AU

by SquidKidCelebi



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Feedback appreciated, IDK I have to finish writing the entire thing first, maybe more? - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-09-21
Packaged: 2019-11-17 18:19:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18103871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SquidKidCelebi/pseuds/SquidKidCelebi
Summary: Henry finds himself back at the old cartoon studio after he was invited by his old pal Joey Drew. What he originally thought to be a friendly reunion turns into a crazy search for a way out accompanied by the very characters he once drew, with a bit of a twist. Together, they must face danger at every turn and ultimately find a way out of the studio.





	1. To Where It All Began

“Dear Henry,

It seems like a lifetime since we worked on cartoons together. 

30 years really slips away, doesn’t it?

If you’re back in town, come visit the old workshop.

There’s something I need to show you.

Your best pal, Joey Drew”

That’s all the letter said. “Joey Drew, vague as always,” Henry thought. It was surprising to get a letter from someone he hadn’t seen in a while, suspicious even. But what would be the harm? Not only would he meet up with his old friend, and possibly others, but he would get to see the studio again and see how much it changed in the last few decades.

Henry stood in the doorway of the old studio, looking over the letter once more before stepping inside and closing the door behind him. “Alright Joey, I’m here,” he called out in hopes that his old friend would hear him, to no avail. The man sighed. “Let’s see if we can find what you wanted me to see.”

The studio was surprisingly in a somewhat well-kempt state for something that was supposedly abandoned for a while. Sure, there were boards here and there that had fallen due to old age, as expected. But despite all the spills and floods of ink that had happened over the years, the building wasn’t in too bad of a shape. It almost looked brand new.

Henry looked around for any trace of Joey and, suspiciously, he found none. He began to wonder if he wasn’t here at all. Maybe he had arrived earlier than expected and he just had to wait for Joey to arrive. Whatever the case, he decided to explore the upper floor; reminisce his days in the studio.

The old animator first headed towards his old desk. He was surprised that Joey left his desk where it was. He thought that it would have been removed after he left. It was still nice to see it again after all those years. However, it didn’t take long before he noticed an extra area added behind him. There were tons of light desks within the room. Henry smiled, leaning against the doorframe. “Looks like they knocked out a wall or two after I left. Guess it took a few people to replace me,” he chuckled.

Not long after, Henry returned to the main area of the studio. It seemed like Joey still hadn’t arrived. Whatever it was Joey wanted to show him, it appeared as if it wasn’t too important if he couldn’t even bother to be here to greet him. As much as he thought about leaving, it seemed like a waste to just walk away without even looking at the rest of the studio first.

Without hesitation, Henry headed over to the other part of the workshop. Many of the doors were locked and areas were blocked off by shutters. The only area he could access was a balcony overlooking a wide, open area. A giant chasm laid in the center. On the balcony was a lever that was connected to a small power station without a source.

“Looks like this lift needs a few dry cells,” Henry thought. Looking to the left, he found one dry cell on a shelf and the other was in a chest in front of it. It seemed unlikely that the two had any power left in them, but it was worth a shot. Carefully, Henry placed the two cells in their respective spots and flipped the lever. “Let’s see what you’re hiding down there old friend,” he whispered.

Slowly, chains began to raise a large object from the abyss until a large machine had emerged, various pipes connected to it. Henry stared in pure wonder. “Is this what you wanted to show me Joey?” Behind him, the sounds of clanking metal could be heard, signaling that the previously inaccessible area had become available to him. Perhaps there was a way to turn on the machine.

The old man made his way to find the main power supply, which was located in one of the old break rooms. However, flashing beside the lever was a sign that read “Restore Ink Pressure”. The switch seemed to be powered by ink somehow. Convenient, considering the place was basically made of it.

After wandering for a while, Henry went over to the theatre room. The lone projector in the room was running a test animation of the studio’s main character; a demon by the name of Bendy. Henry had made the character within the first few weeks of the company’s founding. After showing him to Joey, his friend agreed to make Bendy into a real cartoon and soon after, the little devil darling was making his way to the spotlight. To Henry, it was calming to see one of his first animations of the demon after so long.

The animation stopped playing not long after. With a sigh, Henry turned off the projector. Conveniently, the valve to restore the pressure was right beside it. Quickly, he turned it and the ink began to flow through the pipes. The animator made his way back to the main power switch and flipped it. The studio soon turned dark, as it seemed that all the power had been used for the machine. It was quite big. No wonder it needed so much.

Henry walked back to the room with the machine. However, he was greeted with boards covering the room’s entrance, preventing entry. He looked around for a trace of anyone before walking up to the boards and peering inside. The machine was pumping out tons of ink into the seemingly endless void. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until a bubbling sound was heard below him. Looking down, he found that the ink was moving; not flowing normally, but… moving. Like it was alive. Henry strained for a better look when all of a sudden a large figure leapt out of the ink and knocked him backwards and looked at him before retreating back into the ink which was quickly flooding the floor.

“I need to get out of here!” Henry thought. Quickly, he stood up and immediately ran as fast as he could towards the exit of the studio without a second thought. Boards from the ceiling began crashing down around him. The animator never looked back. He was almost to the door before the floor collapsed underneath him, causing him to fall. Surprisingly, there was some ink at the bottom that softened his fall somewhat. But that didn’t concern him in the slightest. What did concern him was the figure on the upper level. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t friendly. He needed to find a way out before it caught him.

Henry made his way down towards the lower levels, trying every door on the way. All of them were locked except for the final door at the bottom which led into another small room. The hallway was blocked by boards; an axe laid on a table. Picking it up, he twirled the axe in his hands and swung it, trying to get a feel for it. Afterwards, he proceeded to chop down the boards blocking the hall.

Once all the boards were broken, Henry stood in front of yet another door. Opening it revealed another small room. Two coffins sat at the back; a door right beside them. In the middle of the was an ominous pentagram-like symbol. Cautiously, he stepped into the room, observing his surroundings, and he unknowingly walked into the center of the symbol. All of a sudden, a massive headache washed over him. He dropped onto his hands and knees, letting go of the axe in the process, and a few seconds later, images started to flash in his mind as he lost consciousness, barely hearing the crash from the collapsing boards behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hobboy, okay. Hello everyone! I'm SquidKidCelebi, AKA Ceebie. This is my first story... well, first multi-chapter story I've ever written. With that said, welcome to the Wanderers; an AU I created shortly after Chapter 4's release! I'm not very experienced in story writing, so if anyone has any tips, or if there's something I can improve in this story, please tell me. Feedback is always appreciated!


	2. Familiar Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry wakes up to find someone he never expected to see.

Henry awoke nearly an hour after losing consciousness, the ringing in his ears staying for no more than a few seconds. The first thing he noticed was that the door leading out of the room was slightly ajar, indicating that someone had entered. Looking towards the door he had come through, he found that the ceiling had collapsed, leaving an impassable pile of debris. Shaking his head, he cleared away the remains of the headache, immediately grabbing his axe off the floor as he stood up, eager to find his way out of the studio. That is.. until the noise of a creaking floorboard sounded.

Henry turned to face it, gripping the axe defensively to prepare for whatever he was about to face. A blur of black dashed behind one of the coffins in the room. Slowly, he moved towards the source, still holding the axe, and called out to it.

“I know you’re there. Come out and show yourself.”

After a few moments, the figure peeked out from behind the coffin, a gloved hand gripping the side. It was small, and its face wasn’t fully visible, so Henry couldn’t tell who, or what, it was.

“W-Who are you?” A quiet voice asked nervously. “Why are you here?”

“I should be asking you that.”

It was quiet for a few seconds. The figure peeked out more, showing one of its eyes. It was ovular; a ring of black surrounding a fully black circle in the center of it. It simply stared at Henry. “Strangers aren’t good things down here. That’s what Alice says.”

The animator sighed, placing his hands at his side. He knelt down to meet the figure’s gaze. “Just come out from there. I won’t hurt you, I promise.”

It hesitated for a little while before it started to step out into the dimly lit room. Surprise filled Henry’s eyes as he recognized the figure; a short, black body with a white bowtie, a circular head with horns on the top, two short legs and arms and black shoes. It was none other than the little devil darling himself. The only thing that was different was his eyes; they were off-model from the normal pie-cut as seen in the cartoons.

“Bendy?” Henry was dumbfounded. How could he be alive? It would take some sort of black magic for such a possibility to exist. Could this be what Joey wanted to show him?

The demon nodded. “It’s… a long story. Too long for me to explain anyways.”

“I would imagine. There isn’t any way you could easily explain… this.” He gestured to his surroundings.

The two stood in silence for a few moments. What exactly were you supposed to say in such a situation? And how could you make conversation with a literal cartoon demon?

Bendy spoke first, breaking the silence. “Well, I have to get back to the others so…” He started towards the door.

“Hold on,” the man said, somewhat startling the little devil. “I really need your help getting out of here. Would it be possible for your friends to help me out?”

“I dunno… strangers like you aren’t really welcome.”

“Please, if you could just try.”

Bendy stood in silence before letting out a sigh. “I guess if you need help that badly…” He looked at the animator, flashing a smile. “I can’t promise they’ll help you, but I’ll see if I can convince them!”

Henry smiled as well. “Thank you, Bendy.” Opening the door, he stepped aside. “Care to lead the way?”

The demon nodded and hurried down the steps as the animator followed behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Candlelight illuminated the area as the duo continued throughout the floor. Ink was present even more so than the floors above; wherever you turned, there would be at least one puddle or stain in view. One of the hallways was completely filled with ink, so trudging through it was the only option. Bendy used the debris floating on the surface as a path of sorts. The room that followed was the entrance to the music department. The first thing Henry noticed was the surprising lack of ink. The room was nearly spotless compared to the halls prior. If you ignored the couple of splotches on the wall, it would seem as if it hadn’t been touched at all by the black liquid.

Bendy stepped out into the open space and the old man followed soon after. Music played quietly from speakers hanging above the department's sign; a tune he recognized from his days when he worked at the studio. Those songs would constantly be playing hour after hour. Despite the negative nature of the music director, the feeling he put into each piece clearly showed. Even if some were cut from the final product, they still played. After all, why let such effort go to waste?

Movement from the leftmost hall caught Henry’s eye. A small, inky, almost humanoid figure, a yellow hat on its head, trudged across the floor to where the two stood. The animator held his axe defensively, readying for an attack until Bendy started speaking to it.

“Hey Jack, is Sammy around?”

It made a garbled noise before dissolving in the ink. Henry seemed somewhat surprised.

“What was that thing?”

The demon turned his head. “A searcher. They’re friendly, don’t worry.”

“Yeah… alright.” He lowered the axe to his side.

The creature re-appeared, making another garbled cry.

“Thanks, bud. I owe ya!” Bendy smiled as it retreated back into the hall.

A few moments later, a man stepped out from the area behind the department’s entrance. Head to toe, his body was covered in ink. His overalls, however only had a few drops here and there. A hand ruffled through his hair, which almost seemed to fuse with the ink that coated him, and he looked over to the duo with glowing yellow eyes.

“Back so soon, Bendy?” He spoke in a soft voice. “I thought you’d be gone for much longer.” His eyes moved over to the old man. “Who’s your friend here?”

“Oh! This is Henry!”

“Henry, huh? Haven’t heard that name in a long time.”

“And who are you?” Henry asked. “Did you work here?”

“Really? You don’t remember?” He chuckled. “Age caught up with you, Stein?”

“How do you--”

“Lawrence. Sammy Lawrence. Ring a bell?”

“Sammy?” Shock filled the animator’s eyes. “Wait, Sammy? The music director?”

He nodded. “How long has it been? Time isn’t exactly something we keep track of down here.”

“Nearly 30 years. We haven’t seen each other since I left.”

Silence enveloped the room for only a few moments. “Speaking of, just why are you back?” Sammy’s tone was somewhat serious.

“Oh, right.” He fished around in his pocket before pulling out the letter and handing it to the music director for him to read. “Joey sent it to me a few days ago. He said he had ‘something to show me’. I didn’t know what exactly he meant at first but after everything that’s happened here, I think I have a pretty good guess.”

Sammy studied the letter before scoffing. “Of course Joey would want you to come here.” He folded the letter back up and angrily gave it back to Henry. “You should’ve stayed far away from this place, or at least gotten out at the first chance you had.”

“That’s the thing, Sammy.” Henry placed the letter back in his pocket. “I tried to get out when that… thing on the upper level suddenly appeared and flooded the place. But the boards fell out from under me and now I’m stuck down here.”

The little devil hopped on top of a shelf that was nearby. “I was gonna take him to the others to see if they could help him find a way out!”

“Bendy, I doubt they could. They would have left long ago if they found one. All of us would have been out of here.”

“Well there has to be some way, right? Maybe we haven’t looked hard enough! Surely there’s an exit we haven’t seen, some way to get us, and him, out of this place!”

Sammy stared at the demon for a while before laughing softly. “You never fail to be optimistic, do you? Alright, If you insist.” He walked over to a stairwell by the department’s entrance, beckoning the two to follow. A slightly opened door sat at the bottom. The music director pushed it open, revealing a large, open room. Wooden posts stood in the middle, along with one at the front, supporting the ceiling.

“Just through that hallway,” he pointed to a corridor at the back of the room, “and you should get down no problem.”

“Thank you, Sammy.” Henry said, breathing a sigh.

“Can’t you come with us?” Bendy asked.

“I would, trust me. But I have to get back to the sanctuary. You should come visit if you get the chance.”

“I’ll try.” The old man cracked a smile before starting down the hall.

“Bye Sammy!” Bendy waved to him. The little devil hurried down the hall to catch up with his companion.

The corridor wasn’t too long. There was a door just ahead of the room they were in, but the area was filled with ink, so that was obviously not the way. The only other option was a path with a lot of twists and turns. Before long, the two arrived at what appeared to be some sort of storage area. Multiple Bendy plushies lined the shelves, all of them with the same grinning expression the little devil was known for. The room after was larger, but not by much. There was a single door in the room, a sign beside it reading “lift”. It was easy to conclude that the door led to the studio’s elevator area.

“Alright,” Bendy pointed to the door in front of them. “Just through there is the way down to our safehouse. I can talk with everyone and we’ll find a way to get you home!”

“Sounds like a plan.” Henry opened the door and the demon started down the stairs, the animator following behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would you guys want references as a guide for how the characters are? I can whip up a few in between chapters (considering i don't write very often anyways hhhhh) if you'd prefer.


	3. A Light of Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bendy takes Henry down to the safehouse to meet his friends, and also try to find some way to help his companion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, this chapter is seriously dialogue-heavy. I'm splitting chapter 3 into 2, maybe 3 parts, because it would be waaaaay too long otherwise (^u^)'.

The stairway was longer than Henry anticipated. What he expected was a few simple steps leading down to their destination. However, their descent was more like a few minutes. Some of the boards were broken or slightly damaged and the animator had to be cautious to avoid stepping on any cracks and possibly falling to his death. Bendy, however, hopped down each step without a problem; even if he stepped on a broken bit, it never gave way, similar to how his weight didn’t cause the debris to sink back in the hallway to the music department.

Once the both of them reached the bottom of the flight, the little devil pulled open a door that was left slightly ajar, possibly from him leaving to visit the floor above. A small, decently illuminated hallway greeted them. The leftmost section was dark and what appeared to be machinery lined the walls. Bendy went down the path to the right, beckoning the old man to follow. It only took a few seconds for them to reach another door, this time completely closed. A few voices could be heard behind it, although muffled, presumably talking to each other.

“Alright,” Bendy took a deep breath. “You ready?”

Henry nodded, knowing there was a possibility that this wouldn’t work out as he hoped. The demon jumped up and grabbed the doorknob, turning it and swinging back to pull the door open. Hopping down, he opened the door the rest of the way, revealing a moderately-sized room. A stove sat along the wall to the left with a shelf positioned above it. Various drawers and other shelves stocked with soup cans lined the walls, and an open barrel laid at the farthest corner. By the stove was a circular table with six chairs positioned around it, three of which were taken up by a few figures that appeared to be around Bendy’s height.

The first of the three was a man in a suit. A faint scar in the form of three claw marks ran across his left eye and, seeing as it was stitched shut, it must have been a pretty major injury. A pipe wrench sat in his right pocket. The second was a sailor of sorts; a bearded man with an eye patch over his right eye. A belt was buckled around his waist with a few pouches attached to it. The third, unlike the other two who appeared to be human, was a spider of sorts. A contraption was on his one left arm, and he had two right arms. A tool belt was fastened around the lower part of his body, a wrench poking out from one of the pouches. The three of them sported the same bullseye-like eyes Bendy had. The group looked to be deep in conversation when the two walked in.

The one with the scar first noticed the duo standing by the door. “Ah, Bendy, there you are.” The other two looked over as the little devil made his way to the table.

“Hey, hey, there’s our dancin’ demon!” The three-armed figure pulled out a chair next to him. “We were wonderin’ when you’d show up!”

“Hey guys!” Bendy jumped onto the chair and sat down. “What’s going on?”

“We were just talking. Nothin’ in particular.”

“Ed had a lot of stories about ‘im an’ Tom,” the sailor told the little devil. “A few from the past few mornin’s.”

“Aw, man, you got to hear them, Bends! There was this one time when me and Tommy were down at level--”

“Now, now, he doesn’t need the whole spiel. We’ve heard enough of your stories for one day,” he laughed

The three-armed figure leaned over and whispered to Bendy. “I can tell you about it later.”

“So, anyways, who’s your friend there?” The scarred man pointed to Henry, causing everyone to turn to him.

“Oh, hey! Didn’t see you there!”

“An’ who might you be?”

“Oh, I’m Henry. I used to work here. A friend of mine invited me back here.”

“What a friend they are,” The bearded figure scoffed and leaned back in his chair. “Comin’ down here is a death wish if ya ask me.”

“It’s not like he could have known,” replied the suited man. “If he did, he wouldn’t even be here, now would he?”

“Imagine getting invited by someone like that,” the spider laughed. “Like ‘Heya pal, wanna come over to a cartoon studio where you’re gonna die?’”

“Edgar, seriously,” the sailor said.

“Come on! You gotta admit that’d be hilarious.”

The scarred one simply sighed.

“Anyways, who are you guys?” Henry asked. “I’m assuming you’re Bendy’s friends?”

“Yep. We’re all good friends with the little devil.” He stood up on his chair. “Name’s Charley. That’s Barley,” he pointed to the bearded one, and then to the three-armed one, “and Edgar. Us three are known as the Butcher Gang.”

“Aye,” agreed Barley, “a band of allies joined by a common cause.”

“We used to be our own group before we joined up with the others,” Edgar explained. “Just out roamin’ the studio.” He looked over to the first figure. “Man, those were the days, weren’t they, Char?”

“If by ‘the days’ you mean ‘trying not to get killed by that inky beast everyday’, then yeah.”

“Inky beast?” Henry questioned.

“Ya haven’t heard of ‘im, lad?” The sailor seemed surprised. “Almost everyone down here knows ‘im.”

“Well remember, he hasn’t been down here long enough to know everything,” Charley told his friend. “Speaking of, why is he down here anyways, Bendy?”

“Yeah, ya know what Alice said about strangers in the safehouse.”

“Oh, yeah!” Bendy jumped up and stood on the chair. “Listen, I have a good reason, but I need to discuss it with everyone. Where’s Tom and Alice?”

“Alice went out a little after you left. Should be back soon.”

“And Tom’s takin’ a break in the back.” Edgar said as he laid back in his chair.

“Bendy.” A gruff voice sounded from the right of the room. A tall figure that looked like Boris, the cartoon wolf, stood at the entrance of a small hallway, arms crossed. His left arm had some sort of contraption on it, similar to the one Edgar had.

“Or at least, he was.”

“Didn’t Alice tell you not to bring strangers here?” Quickly, he crossed the room over to the table. He sounded stern, as if he were a father scolding a child.

The little devil leapt off the chair. “Tom, listen, he really needs our help!” Bendy tried to reason with him.

“I don’t care if he needs our help or not. You know the rules, Bendy. No. Strangers.”

“Now, don’t be too hard on him, Tom,” Charley said. “Kid’s a kind soul. Can’t blame him for wanting to help. Besides,” he grinned, “don’t wanna kill the last bit of optimism we have down here.”

“Hey, I can be optimistic too ya know!” Edgar crossed his arms.

“Yeah, sure, Ed”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Charley said nothing, simply smiling as Edgar glared at him. Tom sighed and returned his gaze to Bendy. “Look, I don’t have a problem with you trying to help people out. But Alice and I specifically said no strangers.”

“But this could be our chance!” Bendy desperately cried. “If we help him find a way out, we can find ourselves a way out!”

Silence enveloped the room for a few moments. “When she gets back, we can talk about it.” Tom walked over to one of the shelves and grabbed a couple cans of soup, then proceeded to make his way to the stove.

Just then, the door opened, and a young woman appeared holding some sort of sword. She closed the door and placed the sword in a scabbard attached to her belt, brushing off the front of her dress after she did so.

“Speak of the angel,” Tom chuckled, earning an amused smile from the woman, as he pulled out a small pot from a nearby cabinet.

“Hello Tom; everyone.” She glanced around at the figures in the room before her eyes landed on Henry. “Oh, I see we have a guest.”

“Talk to Bendy about him. He’s the one that brought him here.” The wolf opened the cans of soup and dumped their contents into the pot on the stove, turning the burner on as he grabbed a spoon from the shelf above.

She turned to the little devil. “Bendy--”

“I know, I know, no strangers, but he really needs our help, Alice!” The demon pleaded.

“Excuse me, miss?” Henry walked over to the young woman and held out a hand. “I’m Henry, I used to work here as an animator.”

She placed her hand in his and shook it firmly. “Down here, they call me Alice. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Same to you.”

“Don’t be gettin’ too familiar with ‘er now,” Barley joked.

Alice rolled her eyes. “Don’t pay attention to him.” She went over to a corner of the room, grabbing a chair and returning to the table as Barley moved to sit in between Edgar and Charley. Placing it down, she sat in one of the other empty chairs and motioned for Henry to do the same. Bendy jumped onto the empty seat beside the animator. “So, what brings you down here?”

“I was invited by an old friend… and now I can’t leave. I was hoping you’d be able to help me find a way out of here.”

“As much as I would love to, I don’t believe there’s any exits to this place. We would have found one long ago if there was.”

Tom started filling some bowls with soup, placing spoons in each one, and putting them in front of everyone. “It’s true. We’ve searched the entire studio basically and nothing’s turned up.” The wolf soon took the remaining seat between Edgar and Alice with his own bowl. Everyone else had started eating.

“Hate to say it, but you might be down here for a while.” She nudged his arm. “But enough about that. Go ahead, eat up!”

Henry looked down at the liquid in front of him, swirling the spoon in the mixture of thick soup, vegetable bits, and bacon. It looked alright, but it had to have been way past its expiration date. He was hesitating to eat it.

“Sorry, it’s all we have. But I promise it’s safe.”

Taking Alice’s word, he took a spoonful of soup and ate it. It was surprisingly good; just like how he remembered from way back when. It was only now that he actually realized how hungry he was.

“You like it?” Bendy whispered. “Tom is a great cook when it comes to soup.”

The animator turned his head to look at Tom. “You cook?”

The wolf shrugged. “Can’t remember much about my life before here, but that seems to be one of the skills I managed to retain.”

“We all have little quirks like that,” Edgar added. “Little things about us we have despite us knowing hardly anythin’ about our pasts.”

“The only one who seems to ‘ave nothin’ like that is Bendy,” Barley pointed to the little devil.

Bendy had already finished his soup and placed his spoon into the bowl, pushing it towards the center of the table. “I’ve only ever known the studio. Any skills I have are based on what I’ve seen and done while here.”

“We’re hoping that one day we’ll be able to figure out the past we’ve lost,” Tom continued. “And until that day, we’re stuck down here doing the same old thing day in and day out, and look’s like you’ll be the same way.”

“But there has to be some way, right?” Henry looked around at the others. “This can’t just be a one-way death trap.”

It was quiet for a few seconds. Edgar suddenly slammed a fist on the table. “The lift! We can use the lift!”

“Edgar,” Charley sighed. “That lift has been broken for quite sometime now.”

“Then for goodness sake, we fix it! We got three mechanical geniuses right here! We just need the right parts and we’ll be all set!”

“You do remember the last few times we tried to fix the lift, right?” Tom crossed his arms. “It is in the Ink Demon’s domain after all.”

“Level 9 is off limits to him. We can fix it down there!”

“Do you really want to risk it?” Alice added with a worried tone.

“It’s better than nothin’!”

Alice contemplated for a moment, then nodded. “If you’re willing, I say we go with it.”

“Me too!” Bendy jumped up.

“Same ‘ere,” Barley agreed.

“I guess,” Tom mumbled, clearly unwilling.

“Then it’s settled.” She stood up. “Tomorrow, we go ahead and gather whatever we need, and then we’ll fix the lift.”

Murmurs of agreement spread throughout the table as Tom gathered the now empty bowls and placed them on the stove. Alice led Henry to a room at the end of the hallway. In it were a few makeshift beds, some larger and some smaller. Each one had a blanket draped on top of it.

“You can take my bed for tonight.” She told him, pointing to one of the larger beds. “You must be pretty tired, after all.”

Alice was right; Henry now began to feel exhausted, as if everything that had happened had finally caught up to him. He nodded. “Thank you, Alice.”

“A pleasure.” She turned and walked out, closing the door behind her.

The animator got into the bed as carefully as possible to avoid breaking anything. Adjusting himself a few times to get comfortable, he pulled the blanket over him. With a sigh, he closed his eyes. Tomorrow, they would find the needed materials, fix the lift, and he, along with the others, would finally get out; so he hoped. As he drifted off into sleep, a single thought ran through Henry’s mind:

“Joey, what were you doing?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be making some reference art for these guys at some point. Also thinking about making some short little scenarios for events that happened before this story takes place, so I might make a separate story for that as well.


	4. Deep Into Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry, Bendy, and Edgar go to collect some needed materials, then it's time to fix the lift and get everyone out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHO'S BACK! Anyways hopefully Chapter 4 doesn't take like 5 months. Should be a little faster considering I tend to get bored at school and writing's the only thing I can do that won't drain my entire phone battery in 5 seconds. (I also updated the last 3 chapters, just fixing some grammar errors I found while re-reading.)

Henry’s eyes opened slowly as he awakened from his rest. It was 5:26 according to the Bendy clock on the opposite wall; nearly 9 hours since he fell asleep. For a few moments he made no movement, instead simply listening to the rhythmic ticking as the animator stared at the ceiling. The creaking of a door caught his attention, and Bendy was seen standing in the doorway.

“Oh, sorry, did I wake you?” the demon whispered.

“Nah, you’re alright,” Henry chuckled. “I was just about to get up anyways.”

Swiftly, the man threw off the covers, making sure to place them back before following the little devil out into the main room where Edgar was waiting. A bowl of soup was placed in front of one of the chairs. By the steam rising from it, it seemed to be freshly served.

“Mornin’, Henry!” the spider smiled. “Tom saved you somethin’ in case you were hungry.” He pointed to the soup. “Can’t work on an empty stomach after all, eh?”

“I guess not,” Henry said as he took a seat. He gulped down a few spoonfuls before noticing something missing. “Say, where is everyone?”

“They all got a head start,” Edgar replied. “Down at level P right now lookin’ for a few power cores. Shouldn’t take ‘em long.”

“I see,” the rest of the soup was quickly swallowed. “Guess we should hurry up then.”

“Couldn’t have said it better!”

It took a few minutes for everyone to get things in order, and as soon as they were ready, they headed out into the hallway. A small box was placed at the corner of the hall, just big enough so that the animator could fit into it, he believed. What it was for, that was yet to be discovered. The darkness of the machinery-filled corridor was a little intimidating. Edgar picked up a flashlight that was on the desk next to the entrance and handed it to Henry.

“You’re the tall one, Henry. Lead the way for us, would you?”

The animator smiled, flipping the light on and making his way into the darkness. The spider followed him a short distance away, Bendy right behind him.

“So what do we need to find?” Henry asked, his voice raised a little in order to be heard over the machinery.

“Just a couple of gears,” replied Edgar. “There are some gear boxes in the toy storage we can break into. And that’s right by the stairwell so we won’t have to go too far!”

“Well that’s good.”

“Especially if _he’s_ gonna be roaming around…” the little devil gave a worried look.

“Who’s 'he'?”

“The Ink Demon.” There was a mix of anger and concern in the spider’s voice. “He’s always tryin’ to hunt us down and kill us, especially Bends here.”

“What?” Henry stopped walking for a moment. “Why would he want to kill you guys?”

Edgar shrugged. “We don’t know exactly, but we have a theory.” He waved for Henry to continue walking. “Chances are he’s after Bendy and the rest of us are in the way, us being allies and all.”

“But why Bendy specifically?”

“Well, the two of them are basically the same. No doubt he doesn’t want an ‘imposter’ runnin’ around.”

“Although he’s more of an imposter than me...” the little devil whispered.

A moment later, Henry and his companions reached the end of the corridor, a mechanical door open directly ahead. "The others must have used it before us" the man thought. The path from there split two ways but all led to the same location; a large room full of plush toys of various sizes and multiple cutouts of the cartoon demon. A waterfall of ink lay in the center with stairs on either side, and directly above was a sign that simply read “Heavenly Toys”. From the various clues around the room, Henry could tell this was meant to be a toy factory of sorts.

“Wow, I don’t remember any of this,” he said, his voice just above a whisper. 

“Really?” Bendy expressed a small amount of shock. “For something as big as this, I doubt you couldn’t remember.”

“This must have been built after I left. I didn’t know Joey had a toy factory built in the workshop.”

“Well where did you think the toys were made?” The spider asked.

“China, or something.” 

Edgar chuckled as they made their way up the staircase into the adjoining room. From the machines and the single workbench in the middle, Henry assumed it to be the workshop where the toys were actually made. Hundreds of plushies were placed on shelves on the opposite wall. Bendy took one of his own plushies off the shelf and squeezed it, causing it to emit a squeaking noise. 

“It’s surprisin’ how many are still here,” Edgar remarked suddenly. “It feels like it was abandoned before they got shipped out.”

“Do you know who worked down here, Henry?” Bendy asked, still holding the plushie.

“I faintly remember Joey talking about toy production,” the man replied. “I believe he mentioned a Shawn at one point. Chances are that’s the guy.”

“Shawn, huh?” The spider inquired. “Charley, Barley, and I found a tape with that name on it around here way back when. Bar seemed pretty unnerved by it all, the tape and the large stockpile of plush toys here, but who wouldn’t. It’s almost like a ghost town…”

“I know what you mean.” Henry ran a hand through his hair. “Well, we should probably get a move on.” He began walking to the door followed by the little devil, plushie still in hand.

“Bendy, you know what Tom said about that,” Edgar scolded playfully.

“Oh, come on Ed! We’re going to be leaving soon anyways. I’ll be careful, I promise!”

The spider giggled. “Alright, but don’t tell him I let you. As far as he’s aware, I had no idea.”

They both laughed, as well as Henry. The group then continued on into the next room, turning into a hallway that split into two paths. The right path was open, but the left one was closed, thus leaving only one way through. It was a simple path that was surprisingly clear of any ink.

“The other path is flooded with the stuff,” Edgar explained. “This way is much safer, trust me.”

A little more walking brought the group to the toy storage area. There were a lot more shelves, each full of the same plush toys that were in the workshop. Small puddles of ink dotted the floor here and there, but it still seemed to be relatively clean. A Bendy clock, like the one in the safehouse, was positioned on the wall by the opposite hall.

“Well, here we are!” The spider exclaimed. “Now what do you say we get to work, huh?” He took a pipe wrench out of his tool belt and tossed it to Henry while grabbing a second one from the same pocket. Climbing up one of the shelves, he beckoned the animator over to demonstrate how to remove the cover panels. Afterwards, he and Henry continued opening the rest of the boxes.

“Aren’t these kind of important?” Henry asked, taking one of the gears.

“Nah, they don’t really do anythin’. The boxes are mostly storage for spares; in case you really need one.”

“I see.”

“Oh, Henry!” Bendy said excitedly. “Can I try this one?”

The animator chuckled. “Alright.” He handed the pipe wrench to Bendy, who climbed up the shelf and sat down to work on the bolts of the cover panel. Henry kept a close watch to make sure he didn’t fall off.

“So, Edgar,” Henry started. “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to your arm?”

The spider turned his head. “Oh, you mean this?” He pointed to the contraption on his arm. “See, we’re all products of the Ink Machine, meanin’ we’re made of ink. Normally the machine produces perfect models of whatever you want it to. But sometimes you get little defects here and there. My fourth arm didn’t form correctly, so I gathered a few spare parts around the place and built myself this little thing.”

“You’re really good with machines, aren’t you?”

“Yep. Me, Tom, and Alice are regarded as the mechanical geniuses of our group. We know a lot about how the machinery works around here.”

“Sounds like hard work.”

“Not if you know what you’re doin’!” He laughed.

In due time, all the gears were gathered up. Edgar hopped down from the shelf and handed the gears to Henry. There were seven of them total, quite enough to get the elevator working.

“So, now where should we go?”

“Well…” Edgar thought for a while. “It would probably be best to head down to level 9. That’s the safest place for us to be. Chances are the others are already there.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Suddenly, Bendy squeaked, causing the other two to turn around. What appeared to be veins of ink covered the floor and walls, slowly making their way towards them. Edgar muttered something under his breath and hurriedly brought Henry and Bendy over to one of the farther shelves, motioning for the man to duck down. The toys kept them mostly hidden and Henry had a small window to see through.

“What’s going on?” Henry whispered.

“The Ink Demon,” there was a slight nervous tone in his voice. “He must have heard us while we were gettin’ the gears.”

“But how? He wasn’t anywhere around us.”

“Word around this studio is that he can hear anythin’; creakin’ floors, rustlin’ papers, footsteps, you name it.”

Henry peeked through the small opening. The figure from the upper level had walked into the room, looking around for them, or more likely, for him. He already escaped once, the thing probably wanted to kill him for that. Bendy had placed his plushie on the floor beside him, afraid that he would accidentally draw the attention of the figure.

“So what are we supposed to do?” Asked the animator. “We’re basically cornered.”

“Just wait, he’ll leave soon.”

Just as Edgar said, the Ink Demon soon left the area, the veins of ink quickly disappearing in an instant. The group let out a breath of relief and came out from behind the shelves.

“That was a close one,” Edgar sighed. “We probably would have been dead if the shelves weren’t here.”

Silence washed over the room for a moment before Henry spoke.  
  
“I’ve seen him before.”

“What?” The other two seemed surprised by his words.

“When I was on the first floor. The Ink Machine had turned on, ink was pouring out, and then he came out of one of the ink puddles.”

“So you actually saw the Ink Demon himself?” Edgar remained shocked for a little while before chuckling a little. “Heh, I’ve never heard of any human runnin’ into him and livin’. Guess that makes you pretty special.”

“More lucky than special,” Henry stated. “I barely escaped from him.”

“Whatever you say.” He started walking towards the hallway. “Well, after that ordeal, we should probably hurry down to level 9. We really don’t want to run into him again.”

“What’s with level 9?”

“The Ink Demon never goes down to that level. Nobody knows why.”

“Then I guess we should head down there.”

“You said it! There’s a stairwell over by the lift the next room over. We can use that to get down.” 

With that, the group headed to the stairwell, with Edgar leading them down to level 9. Henry was even more eager to get out of the studio with that Ink Demon hunting for them. His instincts told him that everything was Joey’s doing. But why was his old friend sending him to his death? The answers were not all there, or at least not clear. But for now, all he had to worry about were the other four. He hoped they hadn’t encountered the Ink Demon and they all got back safely. They could fix the lift, and then they could all be free.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The door to level 9 swung open and Henry, Bendy, and Edgar entered the room. There was a lot of empty space, and there was a surprising lack of ink besides the small river in the middle. Bendy ran over to Charley and Barley who were sitting on the staircase leading to the lower area of the room. Alice and Tom stood against the wall by the shaft. A few power cores were on the floor beside them.

“Ah, Henry!” Alice called him over. “Glad you made it back safely.” She took the gears and placed them beside the cores.

“So, do we have everythin’?” Edgar asked.

The wolf chuckled. “We got our stuff, you got yours. I think it’s time we fix this busted old thing.” Tom placed a hand on the shaft doors.

“Then let’s get to it!” He turned to the sailor sitting on the stairs. “Hey, Bar! You still got that wrench I lent you?”

“Aye,” replied the sailor, holding up the metal tool.

“Mind tossin’ it ova’ here?” 

Barley threw the wrench at Edgar, who caught it effortlessly. He then gathered the gears and power cores as Tom pushed open the shaft doors. 

“Be back in a jiff!” He climbed down into the darkness.

Alice watched as Edgar descended before turning to Henry.

“So, did you get by alright?”

“For the most part,” the animator explained. “We had a small skirmish with that Ink Demon thing.”

“So you saw him.” She spoke a little more seriously. “You didn’t get hurt or anything?”

“We managed to hide behind one of the toy shelves before he could find us.”

“Well that’s a relief.”

“I’ll be glad to never have to deal with that inky beast again,” Charley said.

“Same ‘ere,” added Barley. “What about you, Bendy?”

“Oh, uh…” the little devil thought for a second,hugging the plushie. “It’ll be nice to not worry about him killing us anymore!”

“I’m with you there.” Tom smiled.

“You’re all eager to get away from him.” Henry laughed. “I for one ought to give Joey a piece of my mind.”

Everyone continued chatting for a few minutes until Edgar climbed out of the shaft. He dusted his hands off before turning to everyone else.

“Alright, we should be good to go!” The spider looked at Henry. “You wanna do the honors?” He gestures towards the button to call the lift.

Henry nodded and moved to the button, pressing it with a finger. The shaft door closed and the pulleys started moving, a sign that the lift was, in fact, being pulled up. It only took a few seconds before the lift reached their floor and the doors opened. 

“All right!” Edgar exclaimed. “It’s finally time to get out of this stupid place!”

Charley and Barley got up and moved into the lift. Bendy followed soon after, along with Edgar. Henry was about to step in before Alice stopped him for a second.

“What are going to do when we get out?” She asked. “I don’t think people will exactly be calm when we show up out of nowhere.”

“We can figure something out,” Henry replied. “For now, let’s just focus on getting to the first floor.” He stepped into the lift.

But just as Alice was about to take a step, a faint laughing could be heard growing louder with each second. It seemed to be coming from nowhere, almost like it was being projected by a loudspeaker. Everyone’s attention was drawn to it, and Alice looked extremely concerned.

“Henry,” she said frantically, turning to him. “Use the lift, take them up. We can meet up later.”

“But-” He tried to protest but she cut him off.

“Trust me, you have to go.”

“Look at you, trying so desperately to save your hero,” the voice was taunting, sarcastic. “It’s quite adorable, I must say.”

“Just what are you trying to do, fallen angel?” Alice unsheathed her sword.

“Fallen angel?” Henry thought.

“Oh, Allison, Allison… you’re wrong. If anyone’s fallen, it’s you.”

“You call yourself an angel, and yet you only seem to do harm.”

“And you’re relying on an outsider for help, one you’ve never even met.”

Alice scoffed. She turned back to those in the lift. “Henry, you need to go.”

The shaft doors shut almost instantly, sending everyone into a panic. Henry, Bendy, and the Butcher Gang were all trapped inside. Try as he might, Henry couldn’t get the button to open the door to work.

“Aw, leaving so soon?”

“Don’t you dare…”

“You’re banking _so_ much on this human to save you. It’s kind of pathetic. The ‘perfect angel’ herself, asking someone else to free them.”

“Whatever you’re doing this better stop!”

“No!” the voice suddenly screamed. “Why should you get to leave this wretched place while I’m stuck down here!?”

“Because you’re nothing more than an imitation!”

“No, _Allison_. You’re the imitation. You’re the one that took everything away from me! But me?”

The lift started to shift a little. Bendy was scared out of his mind while the other three were trying to reassure him, even if they didn’t quite believe it themselves. Henry got a gut feeling; the kind of feeling you get when you know something bad is about to happen.

“I’M ALICE ANGEL!”

Henry heard Alice and Tom calling his name as the lift began dropping at full speed. Bendy was huddled in the corner, Charley and Barley were trying to calm him down, and Edgar tried to see if there was any way to stop the lift from falling, looking panicked that there was none. At this rate there was almost no chance at survival. It would crash at the bottom floor and possibly kill all of them. But he didn’t want to give up. This wasn’t the end of it. So he closed his eyes and waited.

The last thing he heard was the sound of breaking metal and wood before he fell unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a bit of an Edgar bias, can't you tell?


End file.
